“And that makes him not very different to many of his colleagues.” In reference to the capability and ethical radar of the leader of the junior Coalition partner of the Australian government, thus concludes last Saturday’s editorial, “Barnaby rubble” (February 17–23). An incisive indictment of the parlous state of governance in our nation, the editorial stripped bare any remaining pretence that grown-ups were running the country. Malcolm Turnbull has chosen to squander his tilt at immortality by cravenly stonewalling any forward social, economic or environmental movement in government thinking and/or action. During his tenure of inertia, we’ve had the parliamentary distractions of same-sex marriage, the section 44 eligibility fiasco, and now we have the unseemly performance of Barnaby Joyce. In this time we’ve had draconian laws mooted in the name of security, the ongoing disregard for the refugees pitilessly incarcerated in our name, the shameful blanking of the Indigenous people who held this country together for 60,000 years or more, and a less than dignified rearguard action to protect the banks from judicial scrutiny. If it’s not time for an “Australian spring”, surely it’s at least time for an early election. To clear the air, Malcolm.

– John Mosig, Kew, Vic

Bleak outlook due to redress failure

Martin McKenzie-Murray has drawn attention to how we have yet again failed the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse (“Church blames fatigue for redress failure”, February 17–23). I say victims and survivors because we know only too well that not all victims survived. We have failed them again by our lack of will to establish a redress scheme. Such a scheme was only one of the many key recommendations made by the royal commission. If we can’t even get that right there is not much chance for transparent procedures to deal with future complaints or for ongoing education to understand and prevent future child sexual abuse both institutional and non-institutional. Not only have we let down victims and survivors from the past, we have also failed those who will be abused. The prophetic voice of the royal commission will have to be rediscovered at some future time.

– Mark Porter, New Lambton, NSW

Waiting for the trickle-down effect

Mike Seccombe’s wonderfully precise article forensically demolishes the current “cargo cult” arguments by Cormann & Co for yet more corporate tax cuts (“The maligned leading the blind”, February 17–23). I’m amazed that once again we’re expected to believe that the largesse will tiredly “trickle down” (and yet again evaporate) despite the plethora of countervailing evidence. I can’t begin to adequately convey the frustration of being an onlooker as the usual media suspects dutifully relay this manifest nonsense to their gormless recipients. What really rubs it in is when Labor (especially Chris Bowen) considers a duplication of the duplicity while blowing the budget fruitlessly.

– Alan Baird, Rose Bay, NSW

From the political playbook

It’s almost a shame that Mike Seccombe is so forensic in his skewering of Scott Morrison. The weight of evidence is one thing. A good story is quite another; and truth should never stand in its way. We might live in a post-truth world, but more important perhaps is that we live in a world where stories rule. Demagogues such as Tony Abbott – let us not forget that he brought the conservatives to power in 2013 – and Donald Trump were not elected on the basis of facts, but on the strength of their stories, however ludicrous they were. It’s storytelling that shapes human civilisation, not facts. Alexander the Great kept two things under his pillow: a dagger and a copy of The Iliad.

– Dave Lisle, Courtenay, Canada

Tax cuts and Trump

Mike Seccombe’s exposé on the Morrison–Cormann tax cuts push hopefully should be in the knowledge base of other journalists and, like everything that Trump espouses, be examined very closely. Little really has been revealed by other media outlets in Australia on the reality of the regulated trickle down in wages following the Trump tax cuts. Arundhati Roy summed it up best when she referred to the trickle-down effect more truthfully as the gush-up effect.

– Rob Park, Surrey Hills, Vic

PM’s moralising beside the point

Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement of new rules of ministerial behaviour were breathtaking, as was his almost tearful condemnation of Barnaby Joyce’s insensitivity to his wife and family (Karen Middleton, “Turnbull caught by Hobson’s Joyce”, February 17–23). Yet he could not see Joyce’s behaviour required his resignation from parliament. Turnbull’s action (and inaction) are cynical, and his announcement was a blustering attempt to sideline the political discourse from Joyce’s use of federal money and apparent undermining of parliamentary standards, which would necessitate that he resign. It is a 180-degree change from last week’s “boys will be boys” dismissal of Joyce’s transgressions. I see Turnbull’s pronouncement as unenforcable, cynical theatre designed to hoodwink the country and the media.

– Keith Mitchelson, St Lucia, Qld

A clothing issue

Patrick Hartigan was unable to state categorically that Vermeer’s Woman reading a letter was pregnant because the fashion of the day was the bulky look (Letters, “A delicate condition”, (February 17–23).

– Ingrid Haydon, Long Jetty, NSW

Letters are welcome: [email protected]
Please include your full name and address and a daytime telephone number.
Letters may be edited for length and content, and may be published in print and online. Letters should not exceed 150 words.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on
Feb 24, 2018.
Subscribe here.

Karen Middleton
An audit report covering Scott Morrison’s role in the New Zealand tourism office raises serious concerns over transparency and due process.The NZ auditor’s criticisms of Morrison are similar to some of those the Australian National Audit Office would make nine years later in its own report examining the management of Tourism Australia.

Charis Palmer
As the government pushes to legislate for control of energy prices, retailers blame poor policy for rising bills. Meanwhile, experts say, the market continues to be gamed by energy generators.

Ella Donald Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn developed a taste for the macabre at an early age, but she’s keen to dispel the myth that she is who she writes. She talks about her depictions of deeply disturbed and disturbing women and the release of her latest film project, Widows. “There’s a reason we’re fascinated with domestic-based murders. It allows us to talk about marriage and family and what goes on behind closed doors. It gives us a strange vocabulary and permission to talk about those things we wouldn’t otherwise.”

Dylan Voller
If we didn’t riot, if we didn’t bring attention to the situation that way, all of these abuses would still be hidden out of sight. No one would know what goes on in Don Dale. Ultimately, we need all youth detention centres shut down and resources and power given to Aboriginal community leaders to develop alternative programs and facilities based on country, to help children who are caught up in violence and trauma to heal.

Paul Bongiorno
The question dogging Scott Morrison as he rubs shoulders with world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Port Moresby this weekend is how long he will remain a member of this exclusive club. By his own admission, the chances are slim. The accidental prime minister – catapulted into the job when a majority of the Liberal Party room 12 weeks ago preferred him over Peter Dutton – is failing miserably.

If you take out all the pages from The Sydney Morning Herald reporting on allegations of inappropriate touching there wouldn’t be enough newsprint to wrap a flounder. The latest revelation is that while the ABC board was at Billy Kwong’s, tucking into the saltbush cakes and crispy skin duck with Davidson’s plums, the then managing director’s back allegedly got rubbed, ickily. Litigation regarding this sort of thing is rampant.

The euphemism in the documents calls the grants “departmental approaches”. Everywhere else in Indigenous affairs, the money has to be begged; here, it is given freely. Possibly because here it can be used to fight Indigenous interests. By Nigel Scullion’s own admission, the money was for “legal fees, effectively … to put forward a case of detriment to the land commissioner”. That is, to object to native title claims.

Celina Ribeiro
The NSW government’s plan to make it easier to adopt children in out-of-home care has been criticised for not allowing sufficient time for parents to restore their families and for potentially creating a new Stolen Generation.

Hamish McDonald
Scott Morrison and Xi Jinping take on international diplomacy in the Pacific. Beijing boosting regional security, not military. South-west Pacific in political turmoil. ‘Soft power’ review under way as case made for Radio Australia’s return.

Sophie Quick
At the KidZania labour-themed fun park in Singapore, children earn pretend money working pretend jobs as insurance agents or pharmacists, while their parents stand in depressingly familiar queues.

Richard Cooke
As she competes in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20, Australian cricketer Sophie Molineux talks about the advantages of being a left-handed all-rounder and why she no longer bowls a wrong ’un.

Karen Middleton
An audit report covering Scott Morrison’s role in the New Zealand tourism office raises serious concerns over transparency and due process.The NZ auditor’s criticisms of Morrison are similar to some of those the Australian National Audit Office would make nine years later in its own report examining the management of Tourism Australia.

Charis Palmer
As the government pushes to legislate for control of energy prices, retailers blame poor policy for rising bills. Meanwhile, experts say, the market continues to be gamed by energy generators.

Ella Donald Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn developed a taste for the macabre at an early age, but she’s keen to dispel the myth that she is who she writes. She talks about her depictions of deeply disturbed and disturbing women and the release of her latest film project, Widows. “There’s a reason we’re fascinated with domestic-based murders. It allows us to talk about marriage and family and what goes on behind closed doors. It gives us a strange vocabulary and permission to talk about those things we wouldn’t otherwise.”

Dylan Voller
If we didn’t riot, if we didn’t bring attention to the situation that way, all of these abuses would still be hidden out of sight. No one would know what goes on in Don Dale. Ultimately, we need all youth detention centres shut down and resources and power given to Aboriginal community leaders to develop alternative programs and facilities based on country, to help children who are caught up in violence and trauma to heal.

Paul Bongiorno
The question dogging Scott Morrison as he rubs shoulders with world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Port Moresby this weekend is how long he will remain a member of this exclusive club. By his own admission, the chances are slim. The accidental prime minister – catapulted into the job when a majority of the Liberal Party room 12 weeks ago preferred him over Peter Dutton – is failing miserably.

If you take out all the pages from The Sydney Morning Herald reporting on allegations of inappropriate touching there wouldn’t be enough newsprint to wrap a flounder. The latest revelation is that while the ABC board was at Billy Kwong’s, tucking into the saltbush cakes and crispy skin duck with Davidson’s plums, the then managing director’s back allegedly got rubbed, ickily. Litigation regarding this sort of thing is rampant.

The euphemism in the documents calls the grants “departmental approaches”. Everywhere else in Indigenous affairs, the money has to be begged; here, it is given freely. Possibly because here it can be used to fight Indigenous interests. By Nigel Scullion’s own admission, the money was for “legal fees, effectively … to put forward a case of detriment to the land commissioner”. That is, to object to native title claims.

Celina Ribeiro
The NSW government’s plan to make it easier to adopt children in out-of-home care has been criticised for not allowing sufficient time for parents to restore their families and for potentially creating a new Stolen Generation.

Hamish McDonald
Scott Morrison and Xi Jinping take on international diplomacy in the Pacific. Beijing boosting regional security, not military. South-west Pacific in political turmoil. ‘Soft power’ review under way as case made for Radio Australia’s return.

Sophie Quick
At the KidZania labour-themed fun park in Singapore, children earn pretend money working pretend jobs as insurance agents or pharmacists, while their parents stand in depressingly familiar queues.

Richard Cooke
As she competes in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20, Australian cricketer Sophie Molineux talks about the advantages of being a left-handed all-rounder and why she no longer bowls a wrong ’un.